Orthodox faithful celebrate 'real' Easter today

Liane Gigis

Sunday

Apr 27, 2008 at 2:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH—Tony Correia of South Berwick, Maine, grew up Roman Catholic, got married in a Protestant church and worshiped as an Episcopalian for years. But it was the Greek Orthodox Church that held the spiritual treasure he sought. "The Orthodox faith is the best-kept secret in the world," he said last Wednesday, a couple of hours before receiving holy oil at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Portsmouth. "I just love the services. They are all just fantastic. They're very, very spiritual, very biblical. There's a lot of God there."

PORTSMOUTH—Tony Correia of South Berwick, Maine, grew up Roman Catholic, got married in a Protestant church and worshiped as an Episcopalian for years. But it was the Greek Orthodox Church that held the spiritual treasure he sought. "The Orthodox faith is the best-kept secret in the world," he said last Wednesday, a couple of hours before receiving holy oil at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Portsmouth. "I just love the services. They are all just fantastic. They're very, very spiritual, very biblical. There's a lot of God there."

Correia, 69, planned to attend all nine of the services scheduled last week during Orthodox Holy Week. Although he adopted Greek Orthodoxy about 10 years ago, Correia is still bursting with the enthusiasm of a new convert to the religion that claims Andrew, one of Jesus' original 12 disciples, as founder of its church. The second-largest Christian community after the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodoxy claims about 300 million members worldwide, with Russian Orthodoxy boasting the biggest chunk. The Orthodox flock is growing in Eastern Europe, mainly because of the demise of communism there but it is growing in the U.S., too, as more Anglo-Americans intermarry with members of the Orthodox faith and others, disenchanted with Protestantism or Catholicism, turn to the Orthodox Church.

"You don't have to be Greek," to join the church, says Father Angelo Pappas who has served as pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church the past 15 years. In fact, the priest of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Newburyport, Mass., Constantine Newman, is himself a convert from the Roman Catholic faith.

In a telephone interview, Newman talked about the beauty of the Orthodox liturgy. "As I learned more about Orthodoxy, I came to the realization it made perfect sense, everything fits together. Orthodoxy puts the greatest demand on people to become like God but at the same time it has the greatest understanding of the human condition," he continued. "It tries to bring people to the highest goal, making them authentically human."

Newman said followers view sin as a sickness from which people need to be healed. Perhaps their strong adherence to tradition helps that process.

The Orthodox maintain that today (April 27) is the real Easter Sunday. While Catholics and Protestants worldwide celebrated Easter on March 23 this year, the Orthodox hold to the tradition that Christ was crucified after the Jewish Passover, so Easter must naturally follow suit. In this way the traditions of Orthodoxy are more closely tied to the Jewish faith. In fact, the Greek word for Easter is 'Pascha" meaning "Passover" as Christ is considered the new Passover of the new covenant between God and humankind. The Jews began their Passover celebration last Sunday, which for the Orthodox was Palm Sunday, marking Jesus entrance into Jerusalem.

Palm Sunday begins the holiest week of the Orthodox year and churches like St. Nicholas hold special services every single night, giving the faithful the opportunity to worship God, mourn their Lord's death, learn about humility, cleanse themselves from sin, and finally, at the midnight Easter Vigil, receive their resurrected Savior, that is, the church's 'bridegroom' with joy.

Keep in mind the services are not just for the worshiper's sake, explained Pappas. The services are also for the Lord. "We are not spectators," he said. "We are involved in His passion as he reaches Jerusalem and as He is crucified so are we. We want to be there with Jesus as He is going through this."

Holy Week services commemorate almost every step Jesus took during his final week on earth, including the institution of the Last Supper, the washing of the disciples' feet and the Holy Unction, at which every parishioner who so desires can be anointed with blessed oil.

Correia was among the many young and old who waited their turn to receive holy oil for physical, spiritual or mental healing at the Holy Unction service Wednesday night. Behind the pulpit a young boy sang scriptures in the distinctive wailing cadence of the Middle East while Father Pappas went to work with Q-tip and olive oil. First he dabbed oil on the forehead, chin and cheeks of each individual in the sign of the cross, then dabbed their palms and backs of their hands in remembrance of Christ's wounds. Many parishioners came away with oil-saturated cotton balls in plastic bags to anoint loved ones at home.

For one non-Orthodox worshipper who attended her first Holy Week service at St. Nicholas Church last week, Tuesday night's service of the bridegroom, the experience was almost overwhelming. "I was so moved," she said. "I really found it very beautiful — the hymn was beautiful and I found the teaching about sin and forgiveness to so deeply touch my soul."

On Good Friday, Pappas explained, lamentations are sung and an icon representing the crucified body of Christ is lifted off its stand and carried outside around the church. Parishioners follow behind holding candles in mourning. The procession stops four times for scripture readings along the way. "We are not going to change on a whim with the times," Pappas said. "We worship the way it was originally passed down to us."

The main event of Holy Week comes late Saturday night at the Easter Vigil which begins in the darkened church. The priest enters with a flame. Soon everyone's candle is lit and the beautiful "Pascha" decorations of the sanctuary are revealed. Finally everyone files outside in candlelit procession and at the stroke of midnight, they are the first to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. "Christos Anesti," they say joyously to each other, which is "Christ is Risen" in Greek. Those who attend each year say the service is deeply moving. "If you're not moved by that, you are made of stone," Correia said. Following their vigil, parishioners trudge downstairs and by 1 a.m. are feasting on lamb and other delicious Mediterranean delights. If there's one thing Greeks are known for, it's their food and there's always plenty of it. Feasting, following fasting is part of their tradition as the Orthodox worship with all their senses. "We hear the singing, see the icons, smell the incense, taste communion and touch each other," Pappas said.

Worship in the Orthodox Church any time of year begins with lighting a candle. Before parishioners enter the sanctuary of St. Nicholas Church, they silently select a long, slender candle, set it alight and stand it in a bed of sand stretched underneath a mosaic icon of the Lord. Some people light the candles to represent a loved one who may have passed away, or for a particular prayer request, but the real purpose is to change the worshiper's mindset, Pappas said. By lighting the candle, Pappas explained, we are symbolizing that we are leaving the outside world behind and are now focusing our minds on Christ and acknowledging that Christ is the light of the world.

Once inside the sanctuary, the unfamiliar observer is almost bowled over by colors so vibrant they seem to leap off the walls from every direction. Rich hues of red, turquoise, purple, blue and green illuminate the robes of the life-size icons painted on the sanctuary's shimmering gold walls. In beautiful detail, the figures depict the 12 apostles, early church fathers, Jesus at various moments of his ministry, martyrs, saints and the Virgin Mary, all with staring eyes and solemn faces. Beautiful colors abound. The marble floor of the altar shines, reflecting light and images almost as a mirror would. Candles burning singularly or in clusters are scattered throughout the room and as the sun sets and the outdoors dims, the sanctuary takes on a luminous glow. The priest chants and swings the censer, a covered incense burner on chains. Bells sound like a chorus of peepers chirping on a summer night as the fragrant incense curls around the room then slowly raises the people's prayers up to God.

Many of the scripture readings are chanted or sung and the cumulative effect is almost a surreal feeling of being transported to the Middle East and backward in time. The rituals speak of ancient days and hint of a reality much greater than the present moment. According to Newman the difference in the worship experience is, —¦ intangible."

Of course not everyone experiences the services in the same way. "Stand up. Sit down. Stand up. Sit down. Stand up. Sit down," complained a teenager in church last week. "I don't know whether to stand up or sit down." Indeed a certain degree of stamina is needed to attend Orthodox services which often last for at least two hours and require worshippers to frequently change position from standing to sitting and back again.

While the difference in worship style and holy dates between the Orthodox and their sister Catholics and Protestants is striking, differences in theology and outlook are more subtle. "We often share the same vocabulary but mean different things by it," Father Newman said. A former Classics professor, Newman explained the differences this way, "The Western (Catholic) thrust is to put God into little boxes of our logical thought. Orthodoxy, (on the other hand) maintains the greater mystery that God is beyond anything we can conceive of or speak about. We don't try to categorize the mystery (of faith) because the mystery goes beyond understanding. We maintain a greater recognition of the transcendence of God."

Orthodox means "true worship," Pappas said. But, regardless of the differences, Pappas said he holds deep respect for other branches of Christianity and other faiths. Pappas doesn't proselytize for Orthodoxy because, "religion is very personal. People have to come to God in their own way." Converts like Correia and Newman found that Orthdoxy has brought them home.

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